Bank statement PDF to QIF

What is a QIF file?

QIF, the Quicken Interchange Format, is Quicken’s plain text file of transactions. Intuit’s support pages described it as a specially formatted text file that moves transactions from one Quicken account register to another, or to and from other programs that support it. Each transaction takes a few lines, each starting with a letter that says what the line holds, and a caret ends it.

Quicken now calls QIF a legacy format, and banks give Quicken users a QFX instead. QIF is still the file almost any money software reads. Quicken for Windows imports it into any account, checking, savings and credit card included. GnuCash, YNAB, MYOB, Reckon and Xero all list it among the files they import.

Because it is plain text, a QIF opens in any text editor, and a wrong line can be fixed by hand before you import it.

What is inside a QIF file

This is the whole file for a statement of three transactions, as the converter writes it.

!Type:Bank
D01/14/2026
T-12.40
PHarbour Cafe
MCARD PURCHASE 4821 HARBOUR CAFE 3021
^
D01/16/2026
T-214.60
PCity Power
MDIRECT DEBIT CITY POWER CO 88213
LUtilities
^
D01/23/2026
T3250.00
PNorthwind Trading Salary
MDIRECT CREDIT 012721 NORTHWIND TRADING SALARY
^

!Type:Bank

The header, naming the kind of account. A QIF can also say CCard for a credit card, Cash, Oth A, Oth L or Invst.

D

The date, with the year in full. QIF fixes no order for it, so we write the order the software reads: month first in the QIF for Quicken, as here, and day first in the Reckon QIF.

T

The amount, negative for money out.

P

The payee.

M

The memo, which holds the description as the statement printed it.

L

The category, here the one a rule set.

^

The end of one transaction.

What a QIF file cannot do

No currency.

Quicken lists currency information among what a QIF cannot carry, and GnuCash asks you which currency a QIF is in.

No bank and no account number.

Quicken lists the institution, account number and routing number among what a QIF cannot carry. A QIF can name an account by its name in Quicken, but ours does not, so you pick the account when you import.

No transaction ids, so importing twice gives you everything twice.

A QFX or OFX gives each transaction an id, so software can skip the ones it already holds. A QIF has no such line, so import each statement once.

The date order is up to the software reading it.

A date such as 03/04/2026 is 4 March read month first and 3 April read day first. Quicken in the US reads month first, and MYOB and Reckon read day first. So we write two: the QIF, month first, for Quicken, and the Reckon QIF, day first. For MYOB, take the OFX, whose dates are written year first and cannot be misread.

Quicken for Mac takes a QIF only to start a new file.

It reads a QIF from another program when you start a new data file, not into an account you already have.

Importing it into Quicken

Download the QIF

1. In Quicken for Windows, set up the account first if you have not: a QIF goes into an account that already exists.
2. Choose File, then File Import, then QIF File.
3. In the QIF Import window, choose the account under Quicken account to import into, browse to the file, and choose Import.

Quicken for Mac reads a QIF only when you start a new data file, not into an account you already have. A QIF gives no transaction an id, so Quicken cannot tell one it already holds: import each statement once.

Importing it into Reckon

Download the Reckon QIF

1. In Reckon One, go to the Banking menu and choose Bank accounts.
2. Next to the account, click More, then Upload transactions file.
3. Choose the bank account, click Select File, pick the file and click Import the file.

In Reckon Accounts Personal, choose File, then Import, then QIF Files, browse to the file and choose the account. Reckon Accounts reads a QIF’s dates only day first, as dd/mm/yyyy, which is how the Reckon QIF writes them. In Reckon One, an upload overwrites any imported bank transactions not yet allocated, so allocate those first.

How we write a QIF from a PDF statement

We read the transactions off the PDF and check each one against the running balance the statement prints beside it, and the totals against the ones it prints at the foot. A row that does not agree is shown in red with both figures, and the download is held until you have seen it. Then the file is written in your browser, like this:

The payee, the description, and a category where you set one.

The payee line holds the name cut out of the description, or the one your rule sets, the memo line holds the description in full, and the category line holds the category your rule gives.

Dates are in the order your software reads.

The QIF for Quicken writes them month first, as 01/23/2026, and the Reckon QIF day first, as 23/01/2026. The year is in full so it is never taken for a day.

One signed amount a row.

Money out is negative and money in is positive, so 1850.00 paid out is written -1850.00.

Every file is headed !Type:Bank.

A credit card statement’s too, with its purchases negative and its payments positive. The file states no balance and no account, which QIF can carry and our file leaves out.

Every format holds the same checked transactions. The other files we write are on the import page.

Questions